Elevating and positioning machine



Oct. 23, 1923. 1,471,763 t J. L. WENTZ ELEVATING AND POSITIONING MACHINE Filed Dec. 22 1921 I i umreo 'srATEs Patented e. 23, 1923.

man n wmz, or name, mzwmasmr. nn'zvnrme AIQQOSITIONING ucnnm Application Med December 22, 19:1. cerium. 524,123.

I To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jmm L. Wmrrz, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city of Passaic, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey have invented certain new and useful Elevating and Positioning Machines, of which the following is a specification.

y invention relates to improvements in elevating and positioning machines and the object of m invention is to provide a convenient and novel, mechanism -for.raising, lowering and adfustably positioning devices.

My" improved device is capable of many advantageous uses, as will be obvious and is particularly adapted to vary the angle of inclination of conveyor bodies and the like but I do not intend to limit myself to the particular use thus mentioned and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which are intended to illustrate one of the many uses to which the invention may be applied. Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of my improved device applied to a conveyor", with the elevated position of the conveyor shown in dotted lines,

Figure 2 is a detail of the belt tightener, Figure 3 is a view of the same,'with the belt crossed for reversing the drive, Figure 4 is a plan viewof the screw drive, and

Figure '5 is a detail of the bearing block and adjacent parts.

Similar characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the form of the device illustrated in the drawings, I provide a rotatable screw shaft 1, carried in bearings 2 and 3 positioned on the underside of a conveyor frame 4. An interiorly screw threaded movable bearing block 5 is provided on the screw 1 and is adapted to support the frame and to move along the screw 1 by the rotation of the screws. Arms or struts 6 are pivotally secured to the movable bearing block 5 by means of pins 7 or the like and extend therefrom to the axle 8 of the traction wheels 9 or other like support. It will be understood that there are two of these struts 6, one on each side of the conveyor but that only one of the pair is shown as visible in the drawings. A pair of struts 10 extend from the axle 8 to a pivotal connection 11 on the body of the conveyor;

i In the form of conveyor shown in the .block 5 on which the belt 20 which is thereb drawin s, the receiving end 12 of the con-' veyor rame 4 normally rests on the floor or ground and the discharge end 13 is elevated .and it becomes desirable in use to vary the height of the discharge end of the conveyor to ada t it to the height at which it is desired to ischarge the load. As will be apparent, the rotation of the screw shaft 1 'will adjustably position the bearing the frame '1 is supported,

toward and from the discharge end of the conveyor frame 4 and thereby vary the angle of inclination of the supporting strut 6 toward and from the vertical position, whereby the height of the discharge end 13 of the conveyor frame 4 may be positioned as desired. 1

The screw shaft 1 may be rotated in any desired manner but I prefer, for this. ,purpose to provide a counter shaft 14 in the conveyor body 4 at the lower end of the shaft 1, and to provide thereon a pinion 16 which engages a gear 15 on the end of the shaft 1 whereb the rotation of the counter shaft 14 will rive the screw shaft 1. The counter shaft 14 ma be driven in an desired manner, but i prefer to provlde a pulley 17 on the end of the counter shaft 14 and a pulley 18 on a drivingshaft 19 carried on the conveyor frame 4, with a. drive belt 20 between the pulleys 17 and 18. As more particularly described in and forming part of Letters Patent No. 1,275,808, dated August 13, 1918, and re-issued November'2, 1920, a motor 21 is carried on a bracket 22 below the conveyor frame by which the belt of the conveyor is also driven. I prefer to use this motor for operating also my device as herein described for which purpose the motor 21 is preferably connected with the driving shaft 19 by means of a sprocket chain or the like 23 through the driving shaft 19. The belt 20 between thepulleys 17 and 18 is normally loose.

On the bracket 22 is mounted a. swinging arm 24 which is provided at its upper end with a; roller25. This arm 24 swings on a pivot 26 on the bracket 22 and its roller 25 bears against the belt 20. When it is desired to operate the raising and lowerin device, the roller 25 is elevated and presse against tightened on the pulleys 17 and 18 and t e power from the motor 21 through the driving pulley 18,

whereby the screw shaft 1 will be caused to jnsted,

rotate and the bearing block carried on the shaft 1, as above described, will be caused to travel along the shaft, elevating or depressing the arm or strut 6 and varyinfi the angle of inclination of the frame 1.

en it is desired to change the direction of travel of the bearing block 5 on the screw shaft 1, the belt may be crossed as shown in Figure 3 whereby the direction of rotation of the shaft 1 will be reversed.

ll-llavin thus described my invention, what ll cairn is:

l. lln a device of the character described,

2. lln a device of the character described, the combination of a conveyor body, a rotatable screw shaft thereon, a threaded bearwill be varied. Y

ing block on the shaft, a strut on beering block, a support for the strut and-means for rotating the screw shaft wherebyftthe angle of inclination of the conveyor- 3. In a device of the character described, the combination of a. body to be positioned, a screw shaft carried thereby, a threaded bearing block on the shaft, a strut connected with the bearing block, a su port forthe' strut, counter shafts, pulle s t ereon, a belt normally loose on said pu leys, an arm adj acent the said belt andadapted to tighten the belt on the pulleys, a driving motor, a connecting medium between the motor and one of said counter shafts and the motor and a connecting medium between the other of said counter shafts and the screw shaft, whereby the screw shaft may be rota-ted.

Signed at Passaic, in the county of Pas saic and State of New Jersey, this 15th day of December, A. D. 1921. 1

JERE L. WENTZ. 

